


Makoto and His Cat

by mamodewberry



Category: Free!
Genre: Cats, Fluff, Gen, Growing Up, Mild Blood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-16
Updated: 2016-11-16
Packaged: 2018-08-29 12:17:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8489353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mamodewberry/pseuds/mamodewberry
Summary: Is Makoto Tachibana considered a fluffy guy because his favorite little critters are fluffy cats? My prompt to you is to write about Makoto's small adventures with a cat. It can be the cat he greets in canon all the time or any cat. I just want some Makoto fic on his love for felines.The answer is yes, yes he is a fluffy guy and deserves fifty cats. I hope you enjoy this fic of Makoto and his interaction with cats throughout the years!





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Muhkoto](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Muhkoto/gifts).



One of Makoto’s earliest memories was of fur bleached whiter in the sunlight. He crawled towards the sleeping figure, tatami mat warm on his palms, then he reached out a small hand to touch the unknown, only to be retracted by his mother onto her lap.

“No, no, Mako-chan. Grandma’s kitty doesn’t want you to pull on him.”

‘Kitty’ was a word his toddler ears hadn’t yet heard. He looked back at ‘kitty’ from his mother’s arms, committing the term to mind. 

"Shiro doesn’t mind, dear,” Grandma said, stepping into the room. “He’s old like I am.”

Makoto’s mother shifted on her knees to get closer to the kitty, Shiro. She took one of Makoto’s hands and brought it to the soft white. “Be gentle, Mako-chan. Like this.” Slowly she moved his hand with Shiro’s natural fall of fur.

The feeling was pleasant on his skin. He giggled and his mother allowed him to pet Shiro on his own.

“Good job, Mako-chan. Just like that.”

Shiro shifted and made a sound and Makoto pulled back his hand, startled.

His mother laughed. “He’s purring! That means he likes you.”

C arefully he put his hand back on Shiro and the sound got louder. It tickled his hand. 

 

* * *

 

“Mama, Mama!” Makoto slipped off his shoes at the  _ genkan _ in a flurry and found his mother in the kitchen. 

She was in the midst of preparing dinner. Setting her knife down, she wiped her hands on her apron then tried to contain his excitement by holding his shoulders. “What is it, Mako-chan? What’s the rush?”

“Kinoku-san’s cat had kittens and she is giving them away! Haru-chan and I saw them on our way home from school and they are really cute. Can I have a kitten, Mama? Am I big enough to have one, yet?”

For a moment she didn’t answer. “I did promise you that, didn’t I?”

Even at the age of seven, he could hear the ‘but’ in her voice. Patiently, he waited.

“We’ll talk about it when Papa gets home, alright?”

When his father returned home from work, they ate dinner as usual, though Makoto couldn’t keep his legs still in anticipation of his parents discussing his soon-to-be kitten. He had been a good boy for four months (he’d counted) and he’d grown some (still shorter than Haru, but big for him), he’d have to have earned a furry friend by now!

His mother laid her chopsticks down on her empty plate. She smiled at them both, then turned her head to Makoto’s father, smile wavering. “Honey, I know we told Mako-chan he could have a cat when he got bigger.”

Panic erupted inside Makoto’s belly. Was he not big enough, yet? Did they change their minds? Had he done something bad and didn’t know it?

“I went to my doctor this afternoon…” She paused, and then her lips pulled back into her warm smile. “And I’m pregnant.”

His father dropped his chopsticks and made a very happy sound, and then jumped up to hug his mother while she was still sitting down. “Sweetheart, that’s wonderful!”

“Pregnant?” Makoto knew what that meant; after all, that’s what happened to cats to have kittens! And now his mother...

“You’re going to have a little brother or sister!”

Suddenly, having a cat wasn’t so important. 

 

* * *

 

 

Months later, Makoto didn’t get  _ a _ brother or sister; he got both. Before their arrival, Makoto had sworn to be the best Big Brother he could be. Once the twins were brought home, the Tachibana household was changed forever. Adding two additional people at once, no matter how much his mother and father had prepared for them, didn’t account for the screaming and the constant care they needed. Seeing his parents overworked and tired, he doubted his abilities to be a good older brother. If they couldn’t handle it, how could he? 

Still, he tried his best: fetching diapers and bottles, keeping their curious hands out of danger, cautiously offering to hold one of them in his clumsy arms. 

Years passed, surviving the infancy and toddler stages of his siblings, Makoto entered middle school. 

Since the start of the school year, the twins took to meeting Makoto outside the house to greet him.

As Makoto and Haru approached the junction at the steps, Ran ran up to them. “Big Brother, Big Brother, come quick!”

Try as he might, Makoto took every urgent tone his four and a half-year-old sister too seriously. “Ran, what is it?”

“Come see what Ren and I found.” She tugged at his fingers. Haru followed after then.

Ren was on his hands and knees, peering under the porch, occasionally drawing closer, then changing his mind. 

A pout Makoto was weak towards came next. “We found a kitty. He won’t come out and play.”

“Oh!” Makoto knelt with him in the dirt and Ren scooted over a little, pointing. 

A grey cat with black stripes cowered against the alcove. He hissed at the addition of a new, taller person, hair bristling.  

Ren ran behind Makoto.

“He’s scared, too,” Makoto explained. “I’ll try and get him out. You two probably need to move somewhere he won’t see.”

The twins looked at each other and agreed and stood to the side by Haru. 

Makoto got on all fours and held a hand out to the cat, making gentle and coaxing sounds. The cat flicked his tail and watched his fingers with interest. Slowly the cat edged closer, paws sifting dirt. Makoto waited for his pink nose to tickle his fingertips before grabbing the cat on both sides and lifted him into his lap. 

“Big Brother is amazing!” Ran proclaimed. She was about to make a run, but Haru prevented her by grabbing her sleeve. 

“Slowly,” Haru cautioned them both.

Obediently they minded and sat around Makoto, fidgeting in place for their older brother to give permission to play. 

Claws dug into Makoto’s leg and he suppressed a yelp to keep him in his lap and petted him until he was calmed. “Why were you under the porch?” Makoto wondered out loud, running his hands over the dark fur in search of any sort of injury. The cat emitted an annoyed growl as he came to his right back paw and felt a thorn in the pink pads.

Holding the paw with one hand, he pulled the thorn out with his other two fingers.

The cat twitched, then retracted his paw under himself, now free and tender.

When Makoto resumed petting to further calm the cat, he began to purr. 

“He’s making a funny sound,” Ren remarked with a giggle.

“It means he likes me,” Makoto said, repeating words his mother once did. “And that he’s okay. You can pet him, but be gentle, okay?”

“Okay!” the twins said in unison, raising their hands in glee. 

Haru remained behind them, admiring the scene.

Makoto read the question behind those soft eyes. “I guess when Mom told me I couldn’t have a cat when she was pregnant with the twins, I got really friendly with the strays instead, huh?”

“Apparently.”

“He’s so soft, Big Brother,” Ran said, tickling under the cat’s chin, having discovered he liked that place. “Can we take him home?”

“Oh. He could have an owner. I think he stepped on that thorn and was just trying to hide somewhere quiet so he could get it out.”

The three took turns giving the cat affection until he deemed it had been an appropriate length of time for human interaction, leapt from Makoto’s lap, trotted towards the fence, and scaled it.

“Aww!” Ren whined. “I wanted to play more.”

“Kitty decided he was done,” Makoto said, brushing dirt and hair off his school pants. “Let’s go inside. See you tomorrow, Haru?”

“Yeah.” He offered a smile in parting, grasping the strap of his school bag and headed to the steps. 

Makoto took his siblings inside, helping them take off their shoes in the genkan. They greeted their mother and sat down for snack time. 

Throughout the rest of the evening, Makoto noticed Ran kept rubbing her eyes. Before long, her eyes were swollen, as well as her hands.

“My goodness, Ran-chan, what happened to you?” Their mother asked, looking her over. 

“Mamaaaaaa” she cried, looking picture perfect miserable. 

“Ren-chan, did you and Ran-chan touch something? A bee sting?”

His head shook from side to side. “Uh-uh!”

“Actually…” Makoto began, heart breaking and stomach lurching before he could utter his hypothesis. “There was a cat outside when I got home.”

Quizzically she studied her eldest. “You haven’t been allergic?”

“No.”

“I’ll take her in to see a doctor tomorrow. For now, let’s get you some medicine. Come, Ran-chan.”

The girl cried on the way to the kitchen, cried at the administering of eye drops, and cried at taking the liquid antihistamine. 

In the morning their mother took Ran to the doctor. When Makoto returned from school, it was confirmed that Ran was severely allergic to cats. 

Makoto wouldn’t risk his little sister’s health, and it was then and there he accepted he wouldn’t be able to own a cat of his own. 

 

* * *

 

 

“Come over after dinner.”

The invitation had Makoto stopping mid-step at the fork. It wasn’t uncommon to be invited over, but typically there was a mutual knowledge of the occasion.

Haru heard the unasked question. “I have something to show you.”

Makoto knocked on Haru’s door two hours later, curious and anxious. Seconds passed and Haru was opening the door for him. Instead of being lead into the living room at the table where they usually did, he followed Haru to the back porch, door slid wide open.

Wordlessly, Haru sat on the edge of the porch. Makoto did likewise.

The bushes in the distance rustled and a white cat with blacks plotches and a smaller russian blue cat emerged. The pair paid the humans no mind as they sauntered to the dish off to the side under the porch, containing what looked like canned mackerel.

Haru was feeding them his beloved mackerel?!

Once more, Haru answered what wasn’t being asked. “They started poking around a few weeks ago.”

“And then you fed them. Of course they’ll stay, Haru!”

“I know.”

“E-eh? You fed them on purpose?”

Silence was his reply as Haru hoisted himself off the porch to crouch by the smaller cat.

Warmth swelled in Makoto’s chest at his friend’s kindness. He must have seen how sad he’d been after what happened with Ran. “Thank you, Haru!”

He turned his head to the side, bangs hiding his expression. “Get down here and play with them, already.”

 

* * *

 

Makoto closed the door behind him slower that morning. As he started up the steps to Haru’s, the staircase seemed to stretch on for miles.

A meow stopped him in his tracks. He reached down to pick up the white cat that had haunted the walk since last year he had fondly named Yuki. She accepted being cradled in the boy’s arms, nuzzling her pink nose when Makoto’s face was close enough with hers. 

“This is the start of my last year of high school, Yuki.”

One of her ears twitched and she let out a short, questioning meow.

“I’m going to have to figure out what I want to do with my future. It’s kind of scary.”

As if understanding the uncertainty, Yuki licked his closest finger, green eyes offering condolences. 

“You believe in me, don’t you, girl?”

The drawn out mew was all the encouragement he needed. 

Yuki offered her head for a headbutt, and Makoto returned it with his forehead, a giggle in his throat.  

They’d known one another since she was a kitten, so Yuki knew the moment the boy started to lower himself, she was being released and the human would be leaving her for the day. She leapt out of his arms before he could fully open them, landing gracefully on the stone steps. 

“See you tomorrow.”

With one last glance and a swish of her tail, Yuki entered her hiding place in the bushes.

The stairs, the start of the first day toward the path to his future, was suddenly less scary. 

 

* * *

 

“It’s kind of you to want to feed the stray cats in the area, Tachibana, but you are encouraging them to loiter around campus.”

Mrs. Fujiwata was his child development professor. She caught him red-handed giving treats to three friendly felines outside the student center. Not that he was a good liar to begin with, he certainly wasn’t going to be able to deny what he’d been doing since he started attending two months ago. Especially with the stash of dried food and treats in his backpack. 

“I’m sorry… they just looked so hungry,” Makoto uselessly justified. He bowed his head further, waiting for punishment. 

“We can’t have a cat infestation. Please refrain from being generous on school grounds at least?”

Relieved, he lifted his head. “Yes, Ma’am!”

She held a warning stare with him, then turned on her heals and entered the student center.

The cats that skittered at Mrs. Fujiwata’s approach, cautiously returned at his feet.

Makoto took a step and they thankfully followed after. He’d now have to teach them to wait outside the school gates from now on. 

 

* * *

 

“See you next week, Haru!” Makoto zipped his bag closed and slung it over his shoulder. Their majors couldn’t be anymore different, but thankfully some of their general education overlapped for occasional joint studying. Most of the time they had their own work and the time was an excuse to see each other in the midst of their busy schedules. 

“Yeah. Your place?” Haru asked, stacking their plates and cups in the kitchen. 

“Sure! I’ll pick up some takeout on my way home from my shift.”

Haru made a committal sound and Makoto showed himself out with a smile and a wave. 

The transition from Iwatobi to Tokyo was made easier with Haru three stations away. A year has passed and the homesickness has lessened and independence grown over time. 

His train came to a stop and he deboarded with the crowd and exited the platform at the east gate. Once outside the station, he began his walk home.

Winter was on its way, the evenings dropping temperatures sooner and sooner. Makoto buttoned his coat halfway. 

As he made a turn into the rural part of his walk, he heard a crying mew. He looked to his left and his right, waiting for the next to locate the source.

Eventually he turned a corner to the backside parking of an apartment building. One more meow and he was brought to a silver sedan. He got to his knees, and behind the wheel was a kitten maybe six months old. 

The kitten hugged itself tighter against the wheel, hissing and grimacing at once. 

Tugging his sleeves down and adorning his gloves, he ducked in closer and grabbed it by the scruff with one hand and under its middle with the other. Claws extending, it - she - grabbed onto his jacket as he anticipated. 

Now out of the shadows of the vehicle, he could see the kitten was grimy and slick with motor oil and her backside was bleeding!

Her tail had been severed, leaving a nub. 

Heart aching, Makoto held her to his chest with one arm, doing his best to contain her as he withdrew his cellphone. He searched for the nearest vet and dialed, noting the setting the sun.  

“Y-yes, what are your hours?”

“We close in ten minutes, sir.”

“I’m sorry, but I have an emergency! I just found a kitten and I think she was in the hood of a car and got hurt - she’s bleeding. Can you take her if I get there in twenty minutes?”

There was a pause of consideration, because surely the vet had wanted to close on time today. Like Makoto, the doctor also wouldn’t want to know an animal was suffering on his watch. “Alright, I’ll wait for you.”

“Thank you! I’ll be there as fast as I can!” He flipped his phone shut and stood, holding the kitten close to him with both arms to brace her as he ran. The speed had her clawing with all four paws to his jacket, growling in protest. 

Dodging puddles, poles, bikes, and other pedestrians, he eventually made it to the other side of town. The veterinary facility was on the bottom level, most house lights still on, a man waiting on the other side of the glass door, arms folded. 

The vet opened the door and Makoto rushed in, out of breath. 

Carefully, the vet - Saigo, according to his name tag - pried the kitten from his jacket, the kitten not at all enjoying the transferring of humans.

“Have a seat. I’ll see what I can do,” Saigo-san said as he ducked around the corner into what Makoto assumed was the examining room. 

Makoto pulled up a seat in the waiting room. He removed the bloodied gloves from his hands and unbuttoned his jacket in an attempt to cool down. His body may calm, but his heart and nerves were worried about the kitten. He didn’t think the injuries were fatal, but any cat without a tail they were meant to have was sad. Hopefully she hadn’t ingested any of the oil, either. 

Nearly an hour later, the vet called Makoto back into the room with him. 

She was sleeping on a blanket in a small container. She had been bathed, revealing cream-colored fur with large orange patches along her body. What was left of her tail was bandaged. 

“I’ll keep her here for a few days to keep an eye on her,” the vet said, clasping his shoulder. “I’m positive she’ll be fine. You said she wasn’t yours?”

Makoto shook his head. “No. No collar, either. I found her in some apartments, so she could belong to someone there.”

“I’ll put a notice out and hope her owner comes to claim her. If no one comes for her in a few days, I’ll have the shelter handle things.”

“Oh. Which shelter?” What if she was never claimed? What if she was stuck there forever? All those poor animals that are waiting for owners to adopt them!

Saigo-san walked to his desk and rummaged through a drawer and handed him a business card. “This is our affiliate.”

Was it weird to want to follow up and make sure she was claimed? Having found her, he felt it was his responsibility. “Thank you.”

 

For the next few days, Makoto’s thoughts wandered back to the kitten in healing. He saw the ad the vet put up on city paper online and lost and found pet boards. 

No comments after three days. On the fourth day, Makoto checked the affiliate shelter and saw a photo of the kitten pop up as a new arrival, aptly naming her “Kurimu”. 

He let two more days pass before he allowed his odd sense of duty to the kitten overtake him and he jumped on a train to the shelter. Maybe the website hadn’t updated yet and someone had claimed her. 

The staff welcomed him at the door and showed him inside. “Are you here to adopt today, Sir? Dog or cat?”

“Oh. I-” He hadn’t come to adopt, had he? He was just clarifying Kurimu was okay and that maybe she hadn’t been found by her owner. “I’d like to look at your cats,” he added softly. 

A kind volunteer boy led him down a hallway and through an archway to stacked, cozy cages of felines of varying ages and breeds. “Are you looking for a particular breed or gender?”

“I actually saw one on your site and wanted to know if she was still here. Kurimu?”

“Ah, yes! She came to us straight from our rescue vet. He assured us her wound is healing well. Right this way.”

Makoto followed the boy around a row of cages, chorus of mews at every pass. 

They stopped five cages in and the boy offered a hand towards the cage. “Here she is.”

At the sight of visitors, Kurimu, rose from her bed of blankets and walked towards them, balance uneven with lack of tail and weight of the present bandage. 

Makoto’s chest ached with affection. Now no longer being in danger, her feral actions were reduced to what he hoped was her original personality of curious and sweet. Her green eyes met his own and he wondered if she remembered him. 

“Would you like to hold her?” the volunteer asked.

“Can I?!” he blurted, then quickly blushed.

“If you’re going to adopt her, I hope you will!” He unlocked the cage and grabbed Kurimu before she could retreat to her bed or jump out on her own.

Makoto took Kurimu in his hands and she sniffed him, whiskers and nose tickling his knuckles. She meowed and wriggled out of his hands and jumped up his arms to his shoulders, came around his head and to the opposite arm. Another meow, her investigation concluded. 

“I think she likes you.”

She nestled in the crook he created for her and he pet along her spine, drawing out a pur. “I was the one who found her and took her to the vet. I think she remembers me.”

“Really? Then it was meant to be!”

Still being unclaimed, Kurimu must have been a stray or abandoned by her owner or mother. Her being injured gave her a less chance of being adopted by a new family. Now having met her, Makoto wouldn’t leave her. He had waited all his life to have a cat of his own, and he wasn’t going to make her wait. He was going to take her home. 

**Author's Note:**

> This was a lot of fun to write. He's not very good at naming cats and neither am I. Give his boy a cat in whatever Free project is next, please!!


End file.
